Lelea: Would you like to come visit me?
Felix stared at the message.
Was she serious? His heart seemed to soar, then sink, then flutter, then soar and sink again as he turned it over in his mind.
Part of him wanted very-much to visit her, to put a face to the many happy evenings they had together, to be closer friends.
Another part was afraid that she was something so radically different from what he imagined that he could never enjoy her company the same way again. She could turn out to be a weird old man who got their kicks messing with people like him. It could happen – he'd heard stories.
That was the thing, he knew nothing about her! Anything was possible! No matter who or what she turned out to be, this would be a shock – for better or worse, he wouldn't see her the same way again. Their friendship would change, one way or the other.
"Damnit..."
He felt guilt bubble up inside of him. He had tried not to get too attached, not make any mental image of her. To some extent, he had succeeded, but even not imagining her had built up an image, of a sort. A negative space where she should be. It had made it easy for his heart and imagination to wander, made it easy for him to simply accept her without preconceptions.
Most of all, it had made it easy to accept they would never meet, and she would never tell him anything about herself. No personal details, ever, a permanent enigma. He hadn't exactly come to peace with that, but he'd done his best. And now it was all about to change!
He liked liking her for who she was. He'd gotten comfortable with things as they were – well, not completely, but he hated the idea that he would find her off-putting in person and drift away from her after that. That he would lose this, the thing he looked forward to most every day.
Of course, that was only half as daunting as the reverse. Felix didn't like how he looked – he felt a twinge of shame as he ran a hand over his stomach. This wasn't what he wanted to show her, to be judged by. It was all too easy to imagine she would take one look at him and write him off as a loser – it had happened plenty of times to him in the past, after all.
Echoes of rejection and mockery from his school days echoed in his mind.
He didn't think she was the type, but if she had formed a mental image of him, he was sure it wasn't this. How disappointing would this be for her?
Stop it, he chided himself. He was going into the unknown here – no idea what she was really like, and she was doing the same. Worrying over it endlessly wouldn't get him anywhere.
He gave a small, sad chuckle when he realized that his determination to keep from projecting an image onto the mysterious girl behind the screen had caused him to form a crush on her despite it all.
He'd taken her exactly as she was, and he'd like her. Too much. The fear he felt about meeting her made it clear he'd stepped over that line at some point without realizing it.
How pathetic was that? She probably just saw him as a friend and thought nothing of it, while he was sitting here fretting about romance. For all he knew, she was already in a relationship! Could be married with kids! Could be a grandmother! Could be an astronaut on a space station!
That last one seemed unlikely, but it would sure make visiting her interesting, he thought with a chuckle.
No matter what comes or how bad it gets, just keep making jokes! When in doubt, banter and goof off! That was the key. It kept his nerves settled, gave him a modicum of control. He felt a little better, and nodded.
Whatever happened, he'd just roll with it. Like in a game, right? Don't bog things down thinking about crushes, imaginary romances, or whatever. She was his friend, and he didn't ruin friendships. He'd take what she was willing to give and be satisfied, just like always.
She'd already brightened his life a lot. He might not be able to help wanting more, but he wouldn't let that spoil what they already had – and he sure wouldn't let his stupid shit hurt her. Hell no.
Leaning forward he typed back to her.
Ninja-VS-Bear: Sure, but if I need to go to space I might need a little heads-up. I'm not sure I can get the time off work to go to Mars on short notice.
The reply came almost instantly.
Lelea: Huh?
Ninja-VS-Bear: I don't know where you live, so I wanted to cover all of my bases. 😉
Lelea: Oh I see 🤣
Lelea: Don't worry about that, I'll take care of it
Felix raised an eyebrow. Take care of it? Take care of what?
Luna did sometimes have an odd way of speaking. Was she going to get tickets or something? Oh, or maybe by 'visit', she meant a chatroom or webcam conversation?
Felix grinned despite his nerves. There was just no knowing with this girl! She could be very serious, but she had a mischievous streak a mile wide, too. It really could be anything!
Well, he'd just roll with it, whatever she meant.
Lelea: Just give me a moment.
He stretched out and yawned, rubbing his eyes, and glanced at the clock.
Jesus! It was almost six! He'd forgotten to go grocery shopping, too.
Take-out again... ugh.
He pushed his desk back with a sigh of frustration and went to see if he had milk for cereal, instead. When did it get so hot in here? He stretched on his way over and thought he should grab a cold soda, too, but just as he reached the fridge he heard a strange electrical sparking sound that made him look up in alarm.
The TV he used as a computer monitor had gone completely dark! Crap, was it broken?
He tried the remote, and got on his knees to check the cables when that didn't work. They looked fine to him, but hopefully if anything was broken, it was just a cord. He leaned forward to get a better look, gripping the top of his screen for balance.
The frame held his hand, but his thumb pushed right through the glass, causing him to yelp and reel back. It was like he'd punctured a razor-thin layer of ice! There was nothing but a breeze under it!
The screen looked fine, he realized. But he was sure he'd punched right through!
"The hell..?"
He ran a hand over the screen experimentally, and felt an odd pulling sensation when he did so, before the solid surface vanished under his hand and the entire screen cracked apart with a loud bang!
Felix jerked back, and watched the glowing crack spiderweb and spread across his screen. It must be broken, and sparking on the inside! Crap, that was a fire hazard!
He barely had time to register that and think about where his fire extinguisher was when the black screen vanished entirely, the light spreading to envelop the entire TV. He realized with rising panic that the more the cracks spread and the light grew, the more of a pull he felt, like someone had turned on a vacuum cleaner.
The pull grew and grew in strength, so much so that it seemed the whole apartment was shaking. He had to call someone, but who was he to call?!
Felix yelped as an empty can of soda flew past him and vanished into the light where the TV used to be! He would have screamed, but he was simply too horrified to do so, transfixed like a deer in the headlights.
He stood up to start running away, but the pull grew in intensity to the point of making him stumble, and his hand passed through the light as he tried to grab something for support.
As soon as he touched it, the pull seemed to focus on him, and with a sudden, powerful yank, his arm was pulled into it. He barely managed to scream for a split second before he vanished from the world he had known, with no one the wiser.
He could feel himself falling, feel that he was being pulled left, right, up, down, turning back and forth like a leaf at the mercy of a dustdevil.
All he could see were blinding lights, forcing him to screw his eyes shut, and he screamed. Moving at speeds like this, he was positive of one thing:
Wherever he ended up, arriving there was going to hurt!
Even with his eyes closed, he saw images in front of him that he couldn't comprehend, flashing by too quickly to register. The only one he held onto was a small, colorful horse, but he hardly had the time to think about it.
After raising his arms to defend himself, he tried to force his eyes open, to get some idea of what was happening – just in time to see a blinding white light appear in front of him. One last scream and the air suddenly changed, the sense of momentum vanished, and he tumbled across a hard surface until smacking into something solid.
His world still vaguely felt like it was spinning – that was some fucking rollercoaster ride! He took a few seconds to simply adjust to being stationary again, thankful he wasn't in agonizing pain. Somehow or other, it seemed he'd stuck the landing and lived.
"Worst waterslide ever," he quipped with a groan, and slowly forced his eyes open again. To his surprise, someone was staring back at him with big, light cyan eyes.
Someone? Something? It was some kind of horse creature, and it was smiling at him!
They stared at each other, her smiling, him simply stunned.
Dark-blue fur, short-cut, glowing mane, horn?
Was that a fucking unicorn?
Holy shit. That was a unicorn.
... It was wearing a hoodie.
A unicorn in a hoodie is smiling at me, Felix realized, numbly. He blinked.
He concluded he must have hit his head a lot harder than he had thought.
A giggle escaped the lips of the horse, a girlish and very human-like giggle that made Felix flinch. "Dost thee wish to continue lying on the floor?"
Yeah okay, she could smile and she – clearly a she by the voice, right? – could speak, that might as well also happen. Smiling unicorns in hoodies could talk, that made sense.
Most of his brain was screaming in agony at the fact that what he was seeing had to be some kind of freaky hallucination. This left only a teeny, tiny portion to control his mouth.
"You know, I think I do, actually."
Honesty was the best policy, right?
She danced in place on her hooftips, giggling like a giddy school girl. "Thou knowest not how happy I am to see thee, friend Felix!"
That phrase – he'd heard that before! No, seen it in text chat! His face contorted into stupefied disbelief.
"L-Luna?"
Luna nodded excitedly and grinned. "Yes, it is I!"
She seemed to remember herself, and sat down, calming slightly. Her smile became more sheepish. "Forgive us—me. The gateway was not too rough, I hope?"
Gateway? Wait, did she mean the insane rainbow-waterslide-tunnel thing that had sucked him through his TV?
... Holy crap. Now that he thought it directly, he realized he'd just gotten yanked inside a TV and, seemingly, teleported somewhere.
He was sure he was awake. His head didn't hurt. This wasn't a dream, and despite a substantial portion of his brain screaming it couldn't be real – it seemed to be real!
What the fuck?! This stuff didn't actually happen! He could feel panic rising, but he seized on something he put together from what she had said.
"Wait, you brought me here?"
Luna nodded. "I did, and with great effort I might add."
"Guess opening a Stargate would be hard, yeah," he joked, desperately trying to come to terms with what the fuck was going on and not freak out. He started to sit up, saying, "But where am—"
A horrible sensation dawned. His bones were wrong. His muscles were wrong. He couldn't feel his fingers at all.
He looked down at his body.
Whatever he saw down there was not his body. It had pale blue fur and it wasn't human.
He raised his arms, and saw that his hands were fucking gone.
He screamed bloody murder, flailed and scooted away in a panic, and slammed into the bed behind him.
"Felix! Please calm down!" Luna cried as she reached towards him.
In panic, he tried to stand up to get away, only to pitch over as his hip joints no longer balanced a bipedal posture. He couldn't control his breathing properly, calm himself down – nothing fucking worked the way it was supposed to!
Two royal guards burst into the chamber, doubtless here to investigate the screaming. They found Princess Luna staring in horror as a clearly panicked, terrified stallion spasmed on the floor uncontrollably.
On seeing the guards, the stallion made a face like he'd just seen someone grow themselves an extra head spontaneously, glanced all around the room in panic, and then crumpled to the floor unconscious.
A few moments earlier...
Celestia yawned and stretched out on the couch. It was almost midnight; normally, she wouldn't stay up so late, but her discussion with Luna had set her mind working and she just couldn't relax. She'd relaxed with a book, instead, content that this would also make it easier to respond if Luna needed to speak further this evening.
Lulu would know if she was sleeping, of course. Benefits of being a dream-trotting princess.
She also hadn't wanted to put the book down, but it was time to get some sleep. She had to raise the sun on time regardless of how well she had rested, and after that would be another full day of work. She went to the bathroom to prepare for bed, her mind landing back on Luna as she did so.
She sighed as she brushed her mane. She had known it would be... challenging for her sister to return to Equestria, to return to her side, but she had underestimated the difficulties. Anticipated the wrong ones, in fact!
The Luna she had known a millennium ago had been bold, confident. She had only grown reclusive and morose towards the end, and Celestia had naively thought that with the purification of the Nightmare and enough warmth, encouragement, and attention from her, Luna would go back to her old self.
She had underestimated the depths of Luna's shame over what she had done, which broke any sense of self-worth her sister had once had, made her unable to stand up for herself. She'd also clearly underestimated how fearful the public was towards her sister – a horrible burden Luna doubtlessly felt she deserved.
How was she supposed to encourage her sister to make friends or be happy when Luna didn't seem to feel she deserved to? Rather than growing more confident, Luna had drawn in on herself increasingly. Skipping night court, avoiding simple visits, anything to be alone.
Celestia was keenly aware of the role she had played in that, now. Gentle encouragement becomes simple nagging when it is provided over and over, without listening to the other person's situation. Things had gone better, this evening – Luna had opened up to her, a bit. Because she had listened. But even so, she did not know how to move things forward from here.
It did warm her heart that her sister apparently had somepony to keep her company at night. Celestia could not stay awake all day and all night, clearly, so it was a relief that some night-owl pony had kept her sister from total isolation during those long hours. It might not be a proper friendship, but still. Still! Luna had seemed excited, almost smiled at her when she said she had a friend. That was a precious gift – whoever he was, Celestia was thankful for it.
Oh, she so, so hoped that Luna would talk to him as she'd suggested. She could see the reluctance written all over her face, the shame at not having told him. Just believe in yourself, sister! She knew Luna had so much to give, and surely somepony else would see it, too. Her sister at least seemed to be considering the idea when she left – who knows? Luna could be telling him who she really was right now!
That thought was part of why she hadn't been able to sleep. Privately, she had hoped her sister would come prancing up to the door, unable to contain herself with excitement at having been accepted. That would have been absolutely worth losing a few hours of sleep over!
But it hadn't come. Not yet, but someday. Her sister was a treasure, and somepony, someday, would surely show her that. That cheery thought had her smiling as she started to climb into bed.
A sudden, powerful wave of magic knocked her dizzy for a moment. She shook her head clear and looked around in alarm; somewhere, very close by, an incredible spell or magical explosion had taken place.
She closed her eyes and let magic flit out of her horn, concentrating to pinpoint the source. It had to be close.
Her eyes flew open in panic when she realized where it had come from, and she disappeared instantly.
The door was already open, and she rushed through it, taking everything in.
Luna's computer, a smoking wreck.
Two guards, now snapping to attention.
Luna, cradling an unknown stallion in her forelegs – he was passed out, she looked on the verge of tears.
A quick magical scan didn't reveal any serious injuries on anypony present, and Celestia took a moment to breathe and let her heart stop hammering.
Clearly, something had gone very wrong here, but she didn't perceive any further immediate danger. Who was this pony? Why was her sister upset? What was the right thing to say and do, here? She needed more information, and she focused her horn to get it.
What had caused the shockwave? The spell signature was focused on the computer, now in ruins.
It took her a moment to connect the dots. Had Luna summoned her friend here? But then why through the computer? And even then, that should have been easy! Well, no, that was incredibly difficult, but it wouldn't have required a spell anywhere near this magnitude, nor so... strange.
Luna had mastery over certain forms of magic, dreamwalking included, that Celestia knew nothing about. This had to be one of them, but what sort of magic—
The bit dropped, and Celestia froze. Now that she was looking for it, she could tell it was a dimensional spell. She walked up to her sister, and gently draped a wing over her, desperately pushing down the panic she felt.
"Lulu? Could you please tell me what happened here?"
Felix felt his mind clear, and his vision returning. As it did, he found himself not in any room, but in the clouds, floating gently in place. He couldn't feel his body, which was because he didn't have one. Somehow he knew that way okay, that this was okay. His mind was at ease, calm, and relaxed.
There was a gentle blue light floating in front of him, which resolved into a tiny cyan horse. It didn't look at him. It just stood on its cloud, looking around and not really paying attention to what was going on. It stood still, but in a way that showed it was alive. Swaying a little, blinking, an ear twitching, tiny little actions that made it look alive and not dead like a doll.
Some other things appeared in front of Felix, or rather, around the horse. Several text boxes faded into being, filled with numbers and detailed information.
It took only a moment for Felix to recognize this as a character creation screen – or maybe it was just a selection screen? There were no controls for changing how this horse thing looked. He looked at the basic information page – he didn't know how he knew how to do it, but as he shifted his focus the page shifted to right in front of him, making it easy to read.
Name: Felix
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Species Pony
Tribe: Earth Pony
Level: 1
Class: Player
An earth pony? Class: Player? Felix looked at the pony, and without even thinking about it, the basic information page vanished once more, giving him a perfect view.
His coat was light blue, his mane and tail only a slightly darker shade of the same color, with a streak of white. His eyes were green, like his own, which made Felix think a bit harder.
This was him, right?
He tried to think, it was like his mind was still half asleep, or in a daze. It was so strange being both conscious, and still not really. It was like floating between sleeping and being awake. He decided to give up the train of thought for now, and refocused his attention onto the pony in front of him.
The information screen had shown his tribe designated as an earth pony. Did that mean there were other types? He had barely thought about it when another screen showed him more information, or rather, tabs which he could click like in a computer game.
There were four tabs, one of which had a glowing blue border around it. The other three had no such glow. Felix focused on the one glowing, and it came slightly into focus. Inside it was a silhouette of what looked like a pony on its hind legs. There was a tiny label in the corner, 'earth pony'. When he focused a bit more, an extra window appeared, showing the tribe's attributes.
Attributes:
Strength: 20
Agility: 5
Stamina: 15
Intelligence: 5
Willpower: 5
Constitution 10
Magic: 5
Okay, so that was the active option – hence the glow – but what about the others?
He focused on the next one, this one showed the same silhouette, but with wings. The text on this one said, 'Pegasus', but it had a small red lock next to it. When Felix tried to will his mind to make the tab do something, he felt a small push back, as if the world itself told him he could not access this option yet.
He didn't know how he knew it, it was just what his instincts told him. He let the tab be for now, although not before checking the attributes for this tribe first; The pegasus tribe focused more on agility, with a boost to stamina and dexterity.
This was interesting. So the earth ponies were like the tanks, while the pega... pegasuses? Pegases? Pegasi, he decided, were more agile. He wondered about the two others, and quickly moved on. The next one was the same silhouette, but with a horn. 'Unicorn', it said, and just like the pegasus, there was a small red lock next to the text.
So unicorns had more magic than the other tribes combined? Were they like mages? Felix also noticed they had more willpower – did that affect their use of magic? He unfocused on the tab, and it minimized and returned to its place. The last one came into view as he shifted his attention to it.
However as it came into focus, he was met with a tab that had golden chains going over it like an X, with a big golden lock right in its center. Felix would have frowned, if he had a body. He tried to get more information, but each time he tried, the chains just rattled a bit, showing no name, no information, nothing.
Whatever this class was, it must be very high tier stuff. The gamer side of his mind felt excitement to get to a high enough level to unlock this option, but it was quickly overshadowed by so many other thoughts. Most of which consisted of questions about what was even going on.
He could not really reach the thoughts that would tell him what concerns he had. It was like they were just out of reach, and something told him if he reached them, he would leave this place. So Felix calmed, deciding instead to move on.
There were two more tabs left: attributes, skills. Naturally he started off with attributes, and as he focused in on the relevant tab, the attributes he had seen for his tribe came into focus. It had changed slightly, though. Next to each attribute there was a small plus sign, and above all the attributes there was a small counter.
Attribute Points: 5.
Felix considered where to put these five points. Normally he would put them in his favorite, Charisma, as that usually opened up a lot of interesting gameplay.
Then again, normally wasn't applicable here. Normally he had an idea of what he was getting into; here he had no idea. Not to mention there was no charisma attribute, so that was not an option anyway.
Should he play it safe and invest more in strength? Then again, if the tribe information was to be believed, he already had an advantage in that area; perhaps he should diversify, cover his bases?
Thinking it over for a moment, Felix decided to invest all five points into willpower, increasing it from its basic 5 to 10. His reasoning was he would be better prepared to push through whatever laid ahead of him. He had a feeling he was going to need it, but he couldn't remember why exactly he thought that.
Next up he looked at his skills, and he was shocked to see he had only ONE skill, nothing else whatsoever! Well, that wasn't true – he could see hidden options, black, and faded, like they had not been discovered yet. When he tried to focus on the grayed out options, he felt the world around him resist once again.
While disappointed, Felix didn't feel too angry. Some games kept skills hidden, letting the player discover them themselves. Skyrim was one such example, although even there one could access the skill trees, and see them all. His skills points were also empty, so it suggested he could discover skills, then perhaps level them up with time.
The one skill he did have though, did look rather interesting. The skill icon was represented by what looked like a glowing eyeball. when he focused on it, he saw the information he was seeking. Skill; Discerning Eye. The ability to see information about living things and objects.
That would come in handy! Although, it was not maxed out, which meant it could be leveled up to become more efficient.
He took a moment to think about his choices, which was only one choice, wondering if he made the right move. It didn't take him long to decide that, yes, this was for the best he could do for now. A warm feeling surrounded him, and the pony suddenly reared up to paw at the air with a confident smirk...
Then, everything faded into nothingness, and Felix felt his mind slip away once more...
"Urgh..."
Felix groaned as he felt himself return to the land of the living. His mind felt clouded, like he had just come back from a really deep slumber. His eyes slowly fluttered open, trying to get used to the sunlight lighting up the unfamiliar room.
He was on a soft bed, he realized. He glanced around, realizing it was a spacious room with rows of beds like his own.
There was a desk with some simple medical equipment on it. 'An infirmary.' Felix thought, as he tried to focus. Slowly but surely, his memory of recent events started to click into place once more. He was at home, he had been playing with Luna, and then suddenly...
His heart sank, and held up what he briefly hoped were his hands.
No such luck.
Where his hands should have been, there were now hooves. He tapped them against each other, still unable to believe they were real – but they were, as was everything else around him.
This couldn't be Earth, right? He had a sense that someone, somewhere, might have mentioned a spot on Earth where people turned into colorful ponies.
You know, maybe a footnote in a textbook, or something. Yeah, that was sounding dumber the further he pursued it.
"Not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy," he quipped. Hey, at least his mouth worked – as long as he didn't think about it.
A gentle breeze blew in from an open window nearby, and he smiled. Those always calmed him down, and it was a much-needed familiar sensation right now.
What would he see if he looked outside? He glanced down and wiggled his limbs.
Well, those seemed to work, in their own strange way, and he wasn't tied down. Nothing was stopping him from finding out.
He started carefully moving out of bed. He could practically feel the gears grinding in his brain as decades of human-body-muscle-memory came up against decidedly-not human physiology.
It was like trying to learn to ride a bicycle and drive a car at the same time, with no prior experience. He literally had to take baby steps.
He had just managed to get to the edge of the bed and dangle his legs off of it when the door opened, startling him.
His ongoing attempt at movement came up against the natural instinct to turn to the source of the sound, gears ground in his brain, and the predictable happened.
"Ow..." Felix grunted as he laid on the blue and white floor.
He heard a rapid clip-clop of hooves on tile, followed by a concerned "Are you okay?" from a male voice.
"Yeah," Felix grunted back automatically, and rolled over to see a mint-green unicorn with a light purple mane and white labcoat looking down at him.
Slightly more concerning – and that was pretty concerning, really – was the semi-transparent textbox over the unicorn's head.
???: Lv 7.
Felix stared at it for a few seconds, but when he blinked it was gone. Had he imagined it? His eyes returned to the rest of the pony. Despite having been prepared to see more of these ponies, he was still in awe that something like this could exist.
How was he supposed to react to a colorful pony in a lab coat that could talk, and looked at him with very expressive eyes? It was all so far from anything he had ever known!
He settled for the first thing that came to mind, propped a head up on one of his hooves – desperately trying to fight down the screaming part of his brain that insisted he should have had a hand there – and said, "Nehhh... what's up, doc?"
It didn't make the pony laugh, but Felix smirked, at least. Better than freaking out.
The pony just shook their head in confusion, and said, "Well... let's get you back up in bed, shall we?"
Sounded good to Felix. With help from the unicorn, Felix managed to get back into bed without making a fool of himself. Once settled back in, the unicorn smiled.
"So, your name is Felix, correct?" He asked, and Felix noticed a strange glow surrounding the unicorn's horn. He almost yelped in surprise when a clipboard suddenly came floating over to the pony. The unicorn simply took the clipboard with his hoof, and looked at Felix expectantly.
Felix looked at the clipboard, and then the unicorn's horn. Had the unicorn done that? He must have, right? It went right to him!
Oh, right. He'd gotten here via interdimensional town-portal or something. Magic. Magic was a thing, here.
Did that cost mana? What if he had a boss fight coming up?
Felix snapped out of his bewilderment, and gave a small nod. "Y-yeah, Felix Fox." He responded.
The unicorn smiled, nodding in clear satisfaction. "It is nice to meet you, Mr. Fox, I am doctor Peppermint."
Felix was about to ask if that was really his name when he noticed the almost transparent text reappear above Peppermint's head. It had changed!
Dr. Peppermint: Lv 7.
Felix stared at it in disbelief, and then saw as it faded away once more. He met the unicorn's eyes, tempted to ask if he saw that text box above his head, but then decided against it. Was this the work of his skill?
Someone would probably comment if that was normal here, right? Anyway, the unicorn didn't seem to have noticed him looking at something, focused on the clipboard.
"So, do you remember what happened?"
"Well..." Felix thought for a moment, and tried to summarize, "I was at home, and then my TV split apart into some kind of... portal, I guess? Are portals a thing, here?"
The doctor nodded. Phew. Okay, this might not be Earth, but at least some of his gamer knowledge was giving him a point of reference.
"It sucked me in, and I was given the world's least-friendly waterslide experience – someone should complain to park management, heh – before getting spat out on... some kind of marble floor, I guess. And then I realized I looked like this, and... I don't really remember what happened after that."
Peppermint gave him a sympathetic look. "Yes, well, I was filled in by princesses Celestia and Luna. I was informed that you had a magical accident, and so had changed species from Hue-Man to a pony." He frowned. "I'm afraid I am not familiar with your species, but the princess asked me to make sure you were healthy."
Felix frowned. "And..?"
The very least he could get out of all of this was a healthy pony body to be stuck in, right? Or did he have to worry about pony cancer from all of the crazy radiation he'd been through in the gateway?
The doctor smiled. "From a pony's perspective, you are completely healthy. Although I do understand you are not used to this kind of body, so your brain might have a bit of trouble figuring out its new parts. However, that should sort itself out quickly as you begin to walk around. The magic that transformed you should help you adjust, if you don't fight it."
None of this seemed real, and Felix was increasingly defaulting to treating it the way he would treat any of the not-real challenges he'd faced – in other words, like a videogame.
"I'll... try to let it do its thing. Fighting magic doesn't sound like something I'm spec'd for anyway."
The doctor cocked his head in confusion, and Felix added quickly, "I mean I'll take your advice. Fighting the magic making my body not drive me crazy, bad idea. I get it."
Peppermint nodded and smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. I know this must all be very difficult for you, but there are ponies here to help you get through it."
Difficult? Felix turned that over in his head.
"It's been confusing, but everything seems confusing and difficult when it's new. I've probably handled worse – not like I ended up in Dark Souls, right? Just gotta grind."
Just gotta keep making jokes, more like. But there was some sincerity to it; he just had to keep telling himself that, if he kept practicing and learning, he'd figure all of this out and be alright.
The doctor seemed confused, but said, "That... sounds like a very positive attitude. Keep at it, and you'll be fine."
See? The doctor was saying it, too, so it was probably true. Just roll with it.
Felix hadn't been the type to easily roll with stressful situations in his day-to-day life, but if he treated it like a videogame, he could almost see how to do it. He'd run into plenty of unexpected situations in those.
And he had the strong impression that being the sort of person who rolled easily with weird, mind-bending shit was something he wanted very, very much right now.
Fake it 'til you make it! he thought, and said, "So, how did I get here, exactly? All I know is that there was a portal, and Luna said she'd brought me here..."
Peppermint opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by another. "I believe I can answer that." A woman said, and Felix looked towards the voice. Standing in the doorway, taller than Peppermint, was a white unicorn with wings, a waving mane and tail, and big almost motherly magenta eyes.
Felix's eyes moved above the tall pony, and saw as a new text box appeared.
???: Lv. ???